Inyanei Magic

§ The Sages taught: What is the definition of the soothsayer mentioned in the verse: “There shall not be found among you…a soothsayer” (Deuteronomy 18:10)? Rabbi Shimon says: This is one who applies seven types of semen [zekhur] to one’s eye in order to perform sorcery. And the Rabbis say: This is one who deceives the eyes, as though he is performing sorcery. Rabbi Akiva says: This is one who calculates the fortune of times and hours, and says, for example: Today is a propitious day for going away on a journey; tomorrow is propitious for purchasing property successfully. Or he says that on the eve of the Sabbatical Years, the wheat harvest is generally good; uprooting legumes rather than cutting them from above the ground prevents them from going bad.

The warlock is also liable to be executed by stoning. One who performs a real act of sorcery is liable, but not one who deceives the eyes, making it appear as though he is performing sorcery, as that is not considered sorcery. Rabbi Akiva says in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua: For example, two people can each gather cucumbers by sorcery. One of them gathers cucumbers and he is exempt, and the other one gathers cucumbers and he is liable. How so? The one who performs a real act of sorcery is liable, and the one who deceives the eyes is exempt.

Rebbi Joshua ben Ḥanania said: Rebbi Eliezer used to explain 300 chapters in the matter of the sorceress, but from all of them I understood only two things: “Two are collecting green melons; one who collected cannot be prosecuted, the other one is guilty. He who does a deed is guilty; he who creates an illusion cannot be prosecuted.” Rebbi Darosa said, there were 900 chapters. 300 where one is guilty, 300 where one is free, and 300 where one is guilty but cannot be prosecuted.

Abaye says: The halakhot of sorcery are like the halakhot of Shabbat, in that their actions can be divided into three categories: There are some of them for which one is liable to be executed by stoning, and there are some of them for which one is exempt from punishment by Torah law but they are prohibited by rabbinic law, and there are some of them that are permitted ab initio. Abaye elaborates: One who performs a real act of sorcery is liable to be executed by stoning. One who deceives the eyes is exempt from punishment, but it is prohibited for him to do so. What is permitted ab initio is to act like Rav Ḥanina and Rav Oshaya: Every Shabbat eve they would engage in the study of the halakhot of creation, and a third-born calf would be created for them, and they would eat it in honor of Shabbat.

Rav Ashi said: I saw Karna’s father perform a magic trick in which he would blow his nose and cast rolls of silk from his nostrils by deceiving the eye.

Rav said to Rabbi Ḥiyya: I myself saw a certain Arab who took a sword and sliced a camel and then beat a drum [betavla], and the camel arose from the dead. Rabbi Ḥiyya said to him: Was there blood and excretion afterward in that place, which flowed from the camel when it was sliced? Rather, since there was none, that was clearly a deception of the eyes and not sorcery.

Rebbi Joshua ben Hanania said: I am able to take gourds and watermelons and turn them into rams and deer who would produce rams and deer. Rebbi Yannai said, I was walking on a road in Sepphoris when I saw a Minean taking a pebble, throwing it into the air, after which it came down transforming itself into a calf. But did not Rebbi Eleazar say in the name of Rebbi Yose ben Zimra: If all people of the world came together, they could not create one mosquito and bring it to life. Let us say that this Minean did not take a pebble, threw it into the air, after which it came down transforming itself into a calf, but he called on his genie who stole a calf for him from a cattle barn and brought it to him.

Rebbi Ḥinena ben Ḥanania said: I was promenading at Gufta of Sepphoris when I saw a Minean taking a skull, throwing it into the air, after which it came down transforming itself into a calf. I went and told it to my father. He said, if you ate from it, it was an action; otherwise it was an illusion.

(16) All the above matters are falsehood and lies with which the original idolaters deceived the gentile nations in order to lead them after them. It is not fitting for the Jews who are wise sages to be drawn into such emptiness, nor to consider that they have any value as [implied by Numbers 23:23]: "No black magic can be found among Jacob, or occult arts within Israel." Similarly, [Deuteronomy 18:14] states: "These nations which you are driving out listen to astrologers and diviners. This is not [what God... has granted] you."
Whoever believes in [occult arts] of this nature and, in his heart, thinks that they are true and words of wisdom, but are forbidden by the Torah, is foolish and feebleminded. He is considered like women and children who have underdeveloped intellects.
The masters of wisdom and those of perfect knowledge know with clear proof that all these crafts which the Torah forbade are not reflections of wisdom, but rather, emptiness and vanity which attracted the feebleminded and caused them to abandon all the paths of truth. For these reasons, when the Torah warned against all these empty matters, it advised [Deuteronomy 18:13]: "Be of perfect faith with God, your Lord."

(1) To not soothsay: ...And they, may their memory be blessed, said (Sanhedrin 65b) that included in this negative commandment of the soothsayer is the fooling the eyes that people do. And this matter is a great type of machination that is connected with lightness of hand and its powerful quickness to the point that it appears to people that the trickster is doing fantastic things, meaning to say that they are supernatural. As what those that make efforts in this always do, such that they take a rope and put it into the corner of their clothes in front of people’s eyes, and afterwards they take out a snake; and so [too,] they throw a ring into the air, and afterwards they take it out from the mouth of one of the bystanders in front of them; and many things similar to these. And each one of these evil acts is forbidden, and one who does it is called a fooler of the eyes. And it is included in the prohibition of the soothsayer and we administer lashes for it...

(2) What we wrote about the negative commandment of the diviner adjacently is from the roots of the commandment. And there is another very great damage that is found with this, since it will [cause that] the masses and the women and the youths will accept that which is completely impossible as possible. And it will be sweet for their minds to accept the impossible and that it be possible without the matter of a miracle from the Creator. And perhaps a bad outcome will result from this for them; to deny a fundamental principle, and their souls will be excised — and understand this...

(3) And this prohibition is practiced in every place and at all times by males and females...

REQUIRES EDITING

THOU SHALT NOT LEARN TO DO AFTER THE ABOMINATIONS OF THOSE NATIONS.

...And now, know and understand concerning the subject of sorcery, that when the Creator, blessed be He, created everything from nothing, He made the higher powers to be guides for those below them. Thus He placed the earth and all things that are thereon in the power of the stars and constellations, depending on their rotation and position as proven by the study of astrology. Over the stars and constellations He further appointed guides, angels, and “lords” which are the soul [of the stars and constellations]. Now, their behavior from the time they come into existence for eternal duration, is according to the pattern the Most High decreed for them. However, it was one of His mighty wonders that within the power of these higher forces, He put configurations [as explained further on] and capacities to alter the behavior of those under them. Thus if the direction of the stars towards the earth be good or bad to a certain country, people, or individual, the higher dominions can reverse it of their own volition...

G-d ordained it so because He, blessed be His Name, changeth the times and the seasons; He calleth for the waters of the sea to do with them at His Will, and bringeth on the shadow of death in the morning without changing the natural order of the world, and it is He Who made the stars and constellations move about in their order. Therefore, the author of the Book of the Moon, the expert in [the field of] necromancy, said, “when the moon, termed ‘the sphere of the world,’ is, for example, at the head of Aries (the Ram) and the constellation thus appears in a certain form, you should make a drawing of that grouping, engraving on it the particular time [when this relative position appears] and the name of the angel — one of the names mentioned in that book — appointed over it. Then perform a certain burning [of incense] in a certain specified manner, and the result of the influence [of the relative position of the stars] will be for evil, to root out and to pull down, and to destroy and to overthrow. And when the moon will be in a position relative to some other constellation you should make the drawing and the burning in a certain other manner and the result will be for good, to build and to plant.” Now this, too, is the influence of the moon as determined by the power of its [heavenly] guide. But the basic manner of its movement is by the wish of the Creator, blessed be He, Who endowed it so in time past, while this particular action is contrary thereto. This then is the secret of [all forms of] sorcery and their power concerning which the Rabbis have said that “they contradict the power of Divine agencies,” meaning that they are contrary to the simple powers [with which the agencies have been endowed] and thus diminish them in a certain aspect thereof. Therefore, it is proper that the Torah prohibit these activities in order to let the world rest in its customary way, in the simple nature which is the desire of its Creator. This is also one of the reasons for the prohibition of kilayim (mixing seeds), for the plants resulting from such grafting are strange, giving rise to changes in the ordered course of the world for bad or good, aside from the fact that they themselves constitute a change in Creation, as I have already explained.

Now, many scholars dispose themselves to be liberal with regard to these enchantments by saying that there is no truth in them whatsoever, for who tells the raven or the crane what will happen? But we cannot deny matters publicly demonstrated before the eyes of witnesses. Our Rabbis also, acknowledged their existence...

Now all this is not considered abominable for the nations, instead it is considered wisdom for them. Thus the Rabbis have said: “And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east. What was the wisdom of the children of the east? They were wise and crafty in divination of birds.”...And Solomon learned all this as part of his wisdom...

(4) Our Rabbis, of blessed memory, also said, "What is meant by meonein? It refers to one who deceives the eyes. [a magician] In other words, it is as though he holds peoples eyes and closes them, for he deceives them. It seems to them as though he is performing wondrous, supernatural feats, while in reality he is doing nothing, but with slight of hand and cunning, he deceives them. The entertainers who perform these things at weddings, are violating a negative command. He who engages them, is guilty of transgressing (the negative command), "Before the blind you shall not place a stumbling block." (Leviticus 19:14). Therefore whoever is able to prevent this, is obligated to prevent it. And it is certainly forbidden to view these things but if a non-Jew performs these things, it is permitted to view it.